“Tending to your flowers again?”

I shift my gaze away from the Pink Camellias I had been raising to look at the owner of that voice I thought of day and night. She came up over the hill. Those forest-green eyes filled with warmth, that porcelain skin and that brunette hair done in a ponytail, all dyed in the rising sun's orange light. It made her look ethereal and reminded me that I wished to keep her beside me, forever. A small mole underneath her lips would move whenever she spoke. Her perfect face had no freckles or blemishes. Those plump bosoms, her slim waist, and a stomach with no excess fat were covered by a white one-piece dress that brought out her eyes. Her long legs moved one after another as she walked towards me. I had been utterly captivated as always when I looked at her.

I break out of my daze as I set the watering can beside me, “They keep me company, just like you.”

She giggled and look at the Pink Camellias, “So what are you growing now?”

“Not these, come with me.” I hesitate for a while before grabbing her hand and leading her to the backyard.

“Why don’t you ask them to give you a bigger house? How long are you going to live in this small cabin?” She looked at my shabby log cabin with sadness flickering in her eyes.

“What’s the use of having a bigger house when I’m alone? I’d get one if you lived with me.”

“Right, you’ve become attached to this cabin, haven’t you?”

I frowned inwardly but sigh and agree. We soon entered the backyard where a tilled plot of soil stayed and another one filled with plants with small buds in clusters at their top. I point at the seemingly empty patch of soil, “I just sowed Hydrangea seeds there”- then pointed towards the flowers with the buds- “and Blue Salvias there.”

She crouched down towards the budding plant, “Present me a bouquet of them when they bloom.”

“Always.” I smile at her but it didn’t show on my face.

But I grow them for you.

She then stood up and started walking. I followed suit.

“Why do you live here?”

“You know my circumstances, don’t you? It’s better if I stay out of everyone's sight.”

She kept walking and I followed behind, unable to see her expression. We soon came to a cherry blossom that stood on a cliff. It had been here before I even settled here, however, it became my favorite place. Sleeping underneath its shade, I forget all my worries, closing my mind to the others' scorn.

She stood underneath the tree. It was summer so the tree didn’t have any flowers and only bore fruit.

“I know you better than anyone, don’t I?” She looked over the horizon from the cliff, the light of the rising sun reflecting beautifully from the surface of the ocean. It looked surreal.

“You’re right. You’ve been with me ever since I woke up.”

“However, even though I’ve been with you for so long, I still don’t understand why you would join.” She turned around, a stubborn expression on her face.

“You are a member as well, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but-“ I cut her off, “But I’m not like you. Is that what you wanted to say?”

She looked at me with a sullen expression. I ask, “You should know why I joined, no?”

She yelled, “But, even if you become human, people still will not accept you!” Her eyes become watery as she frantically tries to make me understand, “They'll make excuses. They'll say that you are still a monster inside.”

I stay silent.

She became angrier seeing me not reply, “Do you want to be accepted that badly?”

“I-“ she interrupted me and came close to me, putting her soft, warm hands on my cold face devoid of any flesh or muscle. I could not feel her warmth, my desire to feel them grow. No matter how long it takes, I will become human so I can be with her who's been with me for all my cursed life.

She looked into those dark, cold sockets where my eyes would be. Her forest-green eyes seemed to peer into my soul. “You don’t need to worry about them. You don’t need to think about what others think. Just do what makes you happy. Do what your heart tells you.”

I look at her, the world seemed silent. Just the gentle sound of the wind filling our ears.

I softly grabbed her hands and held them. My gaze had not faltered as it was fixed on her perfect face which was adorned with an expression filled with worry.

I open my mouth, “Why do you think my heart doesn’t tell me to become human?”

As her expression turns into one of confusion, I looked behind her. The scenery of the rising sun on top of the ocean surface, now dyed orange.

My heart tells me to do it for you.

Sol opens his eyes on his bed, the sides of his and his pillow stained with tears. He got up from his bed and the full-length mirror in the room showed him his red eyes which had now become puffy. He thought back to the dream he had and that woman.

“How nostalgic…”, he muttered softly. He had forgotten her name but felt like she was someone very important. He stood in the middle of the empty room. Almost everyone had gone home for Christmas. The Weasley brothers hadn’t gone home as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to visit their brother Charlie who was studying dragons in Romania. Harry didn’t go back because he really didn’t want to stay with the Dursleys as they treated him like he was less than dirt.

He stopped standing around and trying to remember who she was. He was dead and in another world. He had zero chances to meet her. He changed out of his pajamas and wore a hoodie with a full-sleeve t-shirt underneath. He looked out the window and saw a white landscape with snow falling.

Right… It's Christmas.

He went to the door and grabbed the handle but before he could open it, he heard voices and sounds of laughter from downstairs.

“They have a good vibe going on, let's not spoil it.” He thought to himself before casting the Disillusionment charm. He quietly opened the door and headed downstairs. Downstairs, he saw Ron wearing a red sweater with a giant yellow ‘R’ on it. Harry…was just a head.

“Woah!” Ron gasped as he had a shocked expression on his face.

Harry looked down and felt amazed, “My body's gone!”

“I know what that is! It's an invisibility cloak!” Ron excitedly explained, his voice rising in pitch.

Sol looked at Harry whose body could not be seen and activated Mana Eyes. Harry instantly became outlined in a pure white aura. His invisible body had also been outlined, making it visible. Be turned off Mana Eyes before shifting his gaze to the pile of gifts underneath the Christmas tree.

Haah~ the invisibility cloak is still useless against a competent mage.

He looked at one of the gifts which had his name on it. It was his mother's handwriting. It wasn't a big gift and he was grateful for that. He quietly cast the Disillusionment charm on it and took it away unbeknownst to the other two in the room. He then tried to quietly leave the common room. This action, however, didn’t escape their notice. The subtle opening and closing of the doors were seen by them.

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

“You don’t think that's…” Ron asked before his voice trailed off.

“Yeah, that must've been Sol… you guys really don't know what's up with him?”

“No, not at all. He's been friends with my brothers for as long as I could remember. He always felt calm and collected, you know?” Ron reminisced.

“I can definitely see that,” Harry agreed.

“Better yet, it’s more like you wouldn’t be able to tell what he was thinking.”

“He is a bit mysterious, I think he has something like a sixth sense.” Harry guessed.

“Huh? Why would you say that?” Ron felt confused? Did having a sixth sense have anything to do with what's going on with Sol right now?

“No, I mean, he was the one who told me about me being a wizard.”

“Yeah, you told me about it.”

“Well, that's the thing. When I later thought about it, it seemed like he knew I was a wizard despite never meeting me before.”

Ron tilted his head and closed his eyes as if trying to recall something. He opened his eyes, “Right…that’s something weird. But now that I think about it, he had weird abilities even before you knew him.”

“Really?!” Harry gasped and felt as though they were onto something.

“Yeah! He used to play hide-and-seek with me and Ginny. We used to hide in really obscure places. Yet, he’d always find us. It made playing with him really exhausting since we had nowhere to hide.”

Harry thought about it for a while before refuting, “Couldn't he have just used magic?”

Ron shook his head, “This was before he had his wand and you can’t use magic outside of school.”

“You think he used this sixth sense to guess what's under that trapdoor.” Harry made a bold guess.

“That’s…maybe it!” Ron felt as though he had an epiphany, “Think about it, he already knew who Nicholas Flamel was. Doesn’t that mean he also knows what’s inside that trapdoor?”

“Let’s wait for him to come back and ask him.”

“Yeah!”

Both of them had misunderstood. Though they weren’t entirely wrong.

As they were guessing, Sol right now was inside the room, adding final touches to the sleep potion. He had opened the present his mother gave him. Inside was a black, leather photo album.

He opened it only to see his baby pictures except they were moving within as it was developed with a special potion. He turned the pages, there were pictures of his baby self with his parents. His parents had a warm smile as they held him in his arms. Some pages later were Faye's pictures. She had grown a bit bigger in the few months he hadn’t seen her. She had an adorable smile on her face as she played with her toy. Time went on, Sol reminisced and looked at the photos with a warm smile, this was the first time he had genuinely smiled after a long time.

Night

Sol left the room and went to the forbidden room on the third floor again. Modified sleep potion in hand, he wanted to test out the effectiveness of it on the three-headed dog. As he climbed the shifting staircase, he soon reached the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side.

He opened the door and walked inside without caution now that he knew there were no traps inside. Rather, he didn’t care. He quickly came in front of the door at the end and readied his potion. He opened the door to check on the dog. The dog was sleeping. He shook the vial with the potion and threw it in. The vial fell to the floor and shattered with a Crack. White mist started to diffuse inside the room, filling it. The sudden sound woke the dog up. It snapped its eyes open and looked around but found no one as Sol had already closed the door after throwing the vial in. The dog only noticed the white mist and couldn’t help but breathe it in. On the other side of the door, Sol was waiting for the dog to fall asleep. After a while, he heard a muffled sound.

Thud!

Sol knew the dog fell asleep though it took a little longer. He opened the door and sure enough, the dog was laying on the floor, all three of its head knocked out cold. He went inside, his nerves stretched taut. Although he had confidence in his potion, you never know what might happen. He came closer to the dog, ready to bolt out the door if it showed signs of waking up. He poked the dog but it showed no signs of waking up. Its body gently rising and falling, indicating that it was breathing softly as if it was asleep. Once Sol was sure that it was asleep, he released a sigh of relief. He then walked over to the trapdoor which was covered by its paw. He lifted the paw off, revealing a wooden trapdoor. He opened it but couldn’t see anything as it was too dark. He took out his wand and pointed it towards the darkness below.

Gloria Mediocris!

Orbs of white light flew out of his wand, illuminating the darkness. The orbs flew downward revealing a mishmash of vines. He looked at the dark-green vines, some having the thickness of an arm and others a bit slimmer, and frowned.

Devil Snare. Why would it be here? Is this another trap? Did Professor Sprout plant this here? I don’t see anyone else in the school having the expertise to handle this except her. First Hagrid's dog and now Professor Sprout's Devil Snare. Did all the professors take part in setting up traps?

He did not go in as he wasn’t prepared. Sol was an ardent follower of the saying, “Knowing was half the battle.” But he was also fond of the sister saying, “Preparation is half the battle.” Now one would say that if you knew and were prepared, then you would win all battles. Well, that's not the case. At least, not all the time.

Sol closed the trapdoor and went back from where he came. The dog was still sleeping and wouldn’t wake for at least two hours. He had used the Disillusionment charm before coming out and made his way to the common room. On his way there, he saw Harry drag Ron out the common room excitedly before the two wore the invisibility cloak and disappeared. Sol felt curious and activated Mana Eyes and followed them. He followed them as they went down a floor and through a corridor. After a turn, their outlines vanished. The turn would’ve led to a dead-end had there not been a door in front of him. He quietly opened the door before heading in.

Ron was standing in front of a huge mirror while Harry stood to a side.

“That's me…!” Ron looked pleasantly surprised from the reflection of the mirror. “…Only I’m head-boy and I’m holding the Quidditch cup.”

Ron paused as if he was taking in something, “And bloody hell! I’m Quidditch captain too.” Ron took a look again and said with a smug face, “I look good! Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?”

Harry had a sullen expression on his face, “How can that be? My parents are already dead…”

Behind them, Sol was initially a bit confused. He had no idea why Ron had been seeing these things. But when he heard what Harry said, he understood what this mirror was. It was one of those magic items which showed you your desires. But in the case of this mirror, it would show you the desire of your unconscious mind.

Haah~ this is just a joke, isn’t it? Anyone can figure your desires out if they paid enough attention.

As Sol was thinking of these things, Ron had already left and Harry sat down in front of the mirror, looking at it longingly.

An hour or so passed yet Harry still gazed at the mirror. At this point, Sol was getting a bit worried. He looked around but there seemed to be no indication of anyone coming to stop him. A few minutes later, he tried to take matters into his own hands after much agonizing.

He undid his invisibility and opened his mouth, “It seems this mirror has struck your fancy.”

Harry immediately stood up and snapped his head back only to see Sol standing behind him. “Sol…”

“Do you know what this mirror is? Or rather what it shows you?” Sol smiled at him.

Harry thought about it for a while. He wanted to say that it showed us what we’ve lost but that wouldn’t explain what Ron saw. After much thinking, he replied that he didn’t know.

Sol looked at the mirror. He then turned to look at Harry, the smile on his face constant. “It shows us our desires, the desires of our unconscious mind.”

“Unconscious mind…?”

“To simplify, it shows us the deepest desires of our heart.” Sol looked at the mirror once more but didn’t see anything as Harry was also standing in front of it. He shook his head, “This is nothing more than a parlor trick.”

“Why would you say that? Isn’t this a great magical item?” Harry felt confused but a bit happy. Sol had finally started talking to him again.

“It’s because it doesn’t have much use. If one spends enough time with you, he or she might be able to tell your heart's desires just by paying a bit more attention.”

“What kind of people would those be?”

“Parents who act like parents, lovers, best friends who’ve been with you through thick and thin… hell even I can tell what you want.”

“Then-“ Harry wanted to ask how Sol would know but Sol cut him off as if he read his mind, “You saw your parents in the mirror, didn't you?”

“T-That's right.”

“You've never known your parents yet you’d hear their stories every day from people you don’t even know. You want to know what kind of people they are. Another reason is that you've never felt the warmth of parents or their love. You’ve been living with the Dursleys ever since you could remember. Far from loving you, they treat you like a maid. You want parental love. You’ve heard of your mother's kindness and your father's heroism. You want to see if they would love and cherish you. That's why when you gaze upon this mirror, you see your parents.”

Harry was amazed and a bit weirded out. It was amazing that he could deduce so much in the little time they’ve known each other. But it was a bit scary that he would analyze him to this extent. Harry opened his mouth after being dumbfounded for a while, “What about Ron then?”

Sol smiled at him and then chuckled, “It’s pointless to test me like this since I’ve spent far more time with Ron than I have with you. But since you’ve asked, I’ll answer. Ron might've seen something about being a head-boy or Quidditch captain…”

Sol looked at Harry for confirmation. Harry nodded, “Both, actually. And he was holding a house cup.”

Sol laughed, “Right… it stems from his desire for glory and recognition.”

“What…?” Harry asked with a puzzled look.

“You know his older brothers who graduated, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of them. Bill and Charlie”

“Bill was head-boy and Charlie was Quidditch captain during their time in Hogwarts. Even now, Percy is a prefect whereas George and Fred are infamous pranksters. In contrast, would you say Ron has achieved anything?”

“N-No,” Harry was becoming more and more intrigued as to where this would be heading.

“Exactly! He feels burdened by the expectations of others. People think he'll do great things just like his brothers. This makes him envious of his brothers' achievements… and you.”

“Me?!”

“Yep, you became famous as soon as you started school. He wants a bit of your fame. He wants to be loved and recognized. That's why he sees himself as Quidditch team and Head-boy.”

“Huh…”- Harry then stood to a side- “Then what do you see?”

Sol turned around to view the mirror. His expression went through a myriad of expressions. He frowned, he looked gloomy, he looked surprised and finally he smiled. Harry didn’t know what he saw but when he saw the smile on Sol's face, he knew that he changed yet again. This time for the better.

Sol kept quiet for most of the time he looked at the mirror. He finally smiled and opened his mouth, “Do you know how I said that this mirror had little use?”

“Y-Yeah?” Harry was caught off guard by the sudden question.

“Two of the few uses it has is to show you things from a different perspective and to show you what you need to know. Though the latter needs a bit of comprehension from you.”

“What do you mean?”

Sol came close to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He then looked at him with a serious look, “Harry, you seek something that you won’t get. Your parents won’t come back no matter how long you stay here.”

“I know but-“

“Since you know, this'll be easier. Since they won’t come back, shouldn’t you spend more time with your friends who love and cherish you? You should play more Wizard's chess with Ron or get scolded by Hermione some more. Don’t waste your life in front of this mirror, chasing something it won’t give you or won’t come true.”

“Y-You're right.” Harry reluctantly looked at the mirror but later his eyes flashed as if he made a decision.

“Right then, shall we get going? Say your goodbyes”- Sol raised his voice for the remaining part- “since it won’t be here when we come back later.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Doesn't matter. Let's go.” Sol shrugged it off and walked off with Harry behind him.

They left the room and walked back to the common room. On the way, Harry asked, “Did the mirror solve your problem?”

Sol looked at him and then warmly smiled, he felt like this was the first time in a long time he genuinely smiled, “Yeah, it did!”

Right, I’ve been worried for nothing. Any problems with the plot can be solved by future me. Or I’ll just fuck the plot up from the get-go. This is a world that is loosely controlled by the World Laws, is it not? Then, I need not think about the plot. Everything I do is a new plot. I’ve been reincarnated, haven’t I? Time to enjoy my youth in earnest. I have my knowledge to deal with things.

He coldly smiled, his eyes flickered with murderous intent.

And if anyone causes problems for me or the people I care about, I’ll just kill them…

…how simple.